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Medical-Surgical Care: General

Through an initiative called Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation created a framework for change on medical-surgical units built around innovations and improvements in four main categories:

• Safe and Reliable Care

• Vitality and Teamwork

• Patient-Centered Care

• Value-Added Care Processes

 

Transforming Care at the Bedside Framework

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These four categories serve as a framework for organizing and focusing work to improve care on medical-surgical units, but they are not mutually exclusive. Working in one area can produce positive change in another. IHI believes that only by working in all four categories simultaneously will care teams produce truly transformational results.

 

In each of the four categories listed below, you will find detailed descriptions of several specific changes you can test. In order to transform the care on a medical-surgical unit, organizations must make system-level changes, as well as changes in individual care units and processes.


Safe and Reliable Care
Care for moderately sick patients who are hospitalized is safe, reliable, effective and equitable.

Vitality and Teamwork
Within a joyful and supportive environment that nurtures professional formation and career development, effective care teams continually strive for excellence on medical-surgical units.

Patient-Centered Care
Truly patient-centered care on medical and surgical units honors the whole person and family, respects individual values and choices, and ensures continuity of care. Patients will say, "They give me exactly the help I want (and need) exactly when I want (and need) it.”

Value-Added Care Processes
All care processes are free of waste and promote continuous flow.

   


Take Action

Web-based Training: The Model for Improvement

 

A web-based training course providing a comprehensive introduction to the Model for Improvement — a simple, yet powerful tool for bringing about rapid, significant improvements in care.